LA BONNE CUISINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 84, 10 April 1937, Page 3 (Supplement)

LA BONNE CUISINE.

ON USING EGGS.

VARIETIES OF SOUPS.

(By A FRENCH CHEF.)

When in doubt, make an egg dish; it is sure to please someone, and maybe if you try this way for a change, it will please everybody.

A white sauce is made first with an ounce of margarine, an ounce of flour, and half a pint of milk. Melt the margarine in a pan, turn in the flour, and when a smooth paste add the milk, away from the heat. Beat well until smooth and return to the heat and stir until boiling. Allow it to cook for four minutes. Season with salt and pepper— not too much. Then add 2oz grated cheese and a teaspoon of Worcester sauce. Have ready two hard-boiled eggs; cut them in halves and stand each half on a round of buttered toast. Pour the hot sauce over, covering the eggs, and serve very hot. There may be enough sauce liere for more eggs, according to the number of people to serve. Brittany Eggs. You take one egg for each person, half a pound of sausage meat (pork) for three eggs, three-quarters of a pound breadcrumbs for every three eggs, salt, pepper, one teaspoon grated lemon rind, nutmeg, yolk of egg, flour. Boil tlie eggs for ten minutes. Place them in cold water. Mix the sausage meat with the lemon rind and seasoning. Shell the eggs. Roll them in flour. Cover them with the sausage meat. Brush with yolk of egg and roll in the breadcrumbs. Fry them In boiling fat. Cut the eggs neatly in halves and stand them in a hot dish. Serve on fried croutons of bread with a brown sauce if liked. Chicken—French style. The best kind of chicken to use for this dish is what is known here as "Poulet de Bresse," which is your "sprinw chicken," quite small and tender. ° After cleaning and singeing, cut into neat pieces and fry a nice brown in butter. This takes a little time, as not many pieces can be fried at one time, unless one uses large utensils. Remove the chicken from the pan, and into this sprinkle a little flour, stirring well. Then put on to this a good cupful of cream. Strain and add a short pint of white stock. Put this sauce into the saucepan with the pieces of chicken, t\yo dozen or so of tiny onions, pepper and salt. Cover closely and simmer until rae chicken is done and tender. About ten minutes before serving add a handful of button mushrooms and the yolk of an egg (with the pan off the fire), ako a few drops of lemon juice. Serve tlie chicken in a large round dish heaped in the centre and sprinkle with chopped parsley or green pepper. Pour tlie sauce —which should be quite thick and creamy—and place small '"baking powder; biscuits" all round the edge of the dish. | These are, of course, eaten with tlie j chicken, soaked in tlie sauce. This is j not exactly a cheap dish, but it is delicious and nice-looking, and a change | from the eternal roast chicken and j bread sauce.

French Soups Defined for Uninitiated. "What is the difference between a bouillon and a consomme, a bisque and a puree?" ask many persons who think that soup is "just soup." Here is the answer:— Bouillon.—Bouillon is made from lean beef, usually without any bone. It is delicately seasoned with herbs, spices and vegetables, and is served clear. The meal is browned before cooking. Bone is not used for bouillon, because stock made with meat alone is easier to clarify than that made with bone. Bisque.—Soups of this type usually are made from shellfish, milk and seasonings. The principal ingredients are diced in the soup. Meat or vegetable also may be used for the bisque. Consomme.—This is a clear soup usually made from several kinds of meat, such afl beef, veal and fowl, and is highly seasoned. Puree.—A puree is a thick soup made from vegetables, or fish, which has been forced through a sieve. Milk and seasonings are added. A Homely French Dish. Really good macaroni and cheese is excellent to serve with sausages, or with any other dish for that matter. Boil the macaroni. Make a white sauce of a tablespoonful of butter melted and mixed with one of flour. Add milk to make a thin sauce. Put a layer of macaroni in well-buttered baking dish. Pour over some liquid, sprinkle with cheese, salt and pepper.. Repeat until all is used. On top sprinkle cheese and dried breadcrumbs; dot with butter. Add more milk if dish seems dry and bake until macaroni is hot all through and cheese melted.